Short barrel .45 ACP ballistics
Chocolate Bunny
Does anyone have or can anyone direct me to where I can find ballistics on
the .45 ACP coming out of a short barrel - say 3.5"? I am interested in
velocity and muzzle energy. I have never seen these figures published
anywhere. It seems like most published figures are based on tests done
with a 5" barrel.
Despite the many virtues of the .45 ACP, do you suppose the reason for
not publishing short barrel ballistics may be because those figures are
unimpressive? I'm not referring to the "effectiveness" of the round here,
but merely how the numbers look on paper.
Thanks,
Hue
Dave
On 29 May 1997 20:03:53 -0400, Chocolate Bunny <hmi...@gl.umbc.edu>
wrote:
#Does anyone have or can anyone direct me to where I can find ballistics on
#the .45 ACP coming out of a short barrel - say 3.5"? I am interested in
#velocity and muzzle energy. I have never seen these figures published
#anywhere. It seems like most published figures are based on tests done
#with a 5" barrel.
Send me the money to buy the 3.5" barreled .45acp handgun that you have
in mind, and a list of cartridges to test, and enough money to buy a box
of each cartridge, and I'll test them in a chronograph. No need to send
money for a chrono, as I already have one. I get to keep the gun, and
any unfired ammo, and I'll assign copyright ownership of the collected
data to you.
#Despite the many virtues of the .45 ACP, do you suppose the reason for
#not publishing short barrel ballistics may be because those figures are
#unimpressive? I'm not referring to the "effectiveness" of the round here,
#but merely how the numbers look on paper.
You definitely lose something in the missing 1.5".
Take "X" out of reply-to address to send non-spam mail.
PISTOLBOB
Peterson Publishing Co. did a recent magazine " Concealed Carry Guns"
which has a good article by Ed Sanow on short barrell ballistics. Also,
in the book "Street Stoppers" by Sanpw and Marshall there are ballistics
for the 5", 4.25",
and 3.5" 45acp's.
Bob
McMullen
Chocolate Bunny wrote:
#
# Does anyone have or can anyone direct me to where I can find ballistics on
# the .45 ACP coming out of a short barrel - say 3.5"? I am interested in
# velocity and muzzle energy. --
The 1992 Guns&Ammo Handguns Annual had an article written by Evan Marshall
(yes, the same guy) that was titled "Combat Loads for Short Auto-Pistols".
The following info is from this article: You'll have to figure out the
energy values for yourself, I'm too lazy to do the math.
All velocities are FPS. CB is Corbon. HS is Hydra-Shok (Federal).
Bullet 3.5"bbl 5"bbl
FED 185 JHP 917 991
REM 185 JHP 909 934
WIN 185 JHP 917 978
IMI 185 JHP 889 956
REM 185 JHP+P 997 1101
CB 185 JHP+P 1022 1142
CCI 200 JHP 889 977
CB 200 JHP+P 1009 1099
FED 230 FMJ 804 842
WIN 230 FMJ 816 866
REM 230 FMJ 778 819
FED 230 HS 791 822
I use the Hydra-Shoks in my 4516. YMMV.
Rick McMullen Charleston, SC <rxr...@charleston.net>
Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory / Moored Training Ship Project
MEDICT
Hue,
You may be interested in the following table taken
from an article concerning a custom 45 ACP from
Cylinder and Slide. It's in the August 1997 issue
of "Combat Handguns", from Harris Publications.
The "Adventurer" from C&S has a 3.1" barrel and still
produces respectable velocities with some factory loads.
Hope this is helpful. Vaya con Dios.
VELOCITY COMPARISON
3.1" C&S 3.5" Officers 5" Les Baer
FED 230
Hydrashok 791 793 831
Rem 230
GS 775 771 845
Win 230
Ranger SXT 774 776 798
FED 185
HiShok 875 880 917
Rem 185
GS 944 953 1016
Rem 185
JHP 882 891 948
FED 165
Pers Def 962 956 1046
Norman Johnson
#Does anyone have or can anyone direct me to where I can find ballistics on
#the .45 ACP coming out of a short barrel - say 3.5"? I am interested in
#velocity and muzzle energy. I have never seen these figures published
#anywhere. It seems like most published figures are based on tests done
#with a 5" barrel.
Hue,
Because there are so many factors, other than barrel length, that effect
velocity, it is not possible to predict with any confidence the velocity of
a given barrel. It is not at all unusual, for instance, for a 5" barrel on
one gun to give higher velocities than a 7 1/2 inch barrel on another when
shooting identical cartridges. This, of course, is not the norm, but
neither is it unusual.
A rule of thumb for velocity loss in the .45 ACP is about 20-25 fps per
inch. This also, is not to be depended on as chopping real barrels an inch
at a time will rarely reveal a straight line (linear) length/velocity
relationship. The only dependable way to know the barrel's velocity
characteristic is to chronograph it under the specific conditions that are
of interest.
It is prudent to take the published velocities of commercial ammo, or those
of published loading data, with a pretty large grain of salt. Those who
have purchased chronographs have frequently been dismayed by the large
discrepancies between published and measured velocities.
The upside of all this is that, for other than highly specialized purposes,
the differences are not all that important. Neither paper nor flesh will
ever know the difference if the bullet hits where it should.
God Bless!
Norm
Mark Horning
In article <5mmr9h$6...@xring.cs.umd.edu>, PISTOLBOB <pist...@aol.com> wrote:
#Peterson Publishing Co. did a recent magazine " Concealed Carry Guns"
#which has a good article by Ed Sanow on short barrell ballistics. Also,
#in the book "Street Stoppers" by Sanpw and Marshall there are ballistics
#for the 5", 4.25",
#and 3.5" 45acp's.
#
#Bob
#
#
Yeah but since Ed Sanow has absolutly Zero concept of statistical analysis what
good are his numbers?
Mark E. Horning mhor...@netcom.com
Teacher Teacher, how can you teach, when all the grownups just want you to
preach, how can you teach the kids to think for themselves, with all the
censors stealing books from your shelves -- Leslie Fish
Chocolate Bunny
OK wise guy!
On 30 May 1997, Dave wrote:
# Send me the money to buy the 3.5" barreled .45acp handgun that you have
# in mind, and a list of cartridges to test, and enough money to buy a box
# of each cartridge, and I'll test them in a chronograph. No need to send
# money for a chrono, as I already have one. I get to keep the gun, and
# any unfired ammo, and I'll assign copyright ownership of the collected
# data to you.